Mar 10, 2010

The Mohican Markets

Once, before the malls, there were three thriving cities in the Lehigh Valley, and some merchants would have a store in each of the downtowns. Some of the buildings still exist, and have been reused; the Allentown Farr (shoe) Building is now loft apartments. Two of three Mohican Market buildings, famous for baked goods, no longer exist. The Easton location, on S. 4th St., was victim to fire. The Allentown store now is the parking lot behind the new Butz office building. The Mohican Markets were owned and operated by Bernard Molovinsky. Below is the Mohican recipe for chocolate chip brownies, revealed for the first time in 35 years.(you may want to make less brownies)Chocolate Chip Brownies#1 Yield (2) Pans.5lbs. Sugar2lbs. M.F.B2oz. Salt8oz. Glucose2oz. Milk Powder2lbs. Egg Whites(1qt.)8oz. Water(1/2 pt.)3lbs. 8oz. Cake flour-----------------------#22lbs. Chocolate Chips------------------------#34lbs. Dough4oz. Sugar4oz.Cocoa 8oz. Water(1/2 pt.)

Place no.1 in small machine bowl and mix smooth. add no.2 to no.1 and mix until chips are well incorporated.Remove 4 lbs. of dough and mix with the sugar, cocoa and waterDeposit into Baking sheets with no.3 on top to make marble effect.Bake - 375 degrees

reprinted from September 25, 2007

ADDENDUM: My family also owned a meat market across the street from the Easton Mohican called Melbern Meats. On my way to lunch in the square every day, I would visit a friend who worked at the Iannelli chicken and cold cut stand in the 5&10 on Northampton Street.

geoff, perhaps i'd get into less trouble if i become a baking blog, i have many mohican recipes. (i do keep baker hours)

i'm very conflicted about the reuse of the commercial buildings in allentown. although i'm an advocate for property rights, i know that the conversion of too many commercial buildings into residential can only hurt allentown at this time. as i have written before, we already have more lofts than young professionals who desire them. so then the question becomes, regardless of what the developer calls them, do we want more moderately priced apartments in center city?

At the risk of being labeled an elitist, my guess is moderately price apartments are better than vacant spaces or low-income housing from an economic sense. At least moderately priced apartment generate some kind of revenue for the property owner. somebody has to make money to drive these improvements.

As an example, When I lived in downtown west chester, I rented a mid-range apartment for 18 months. when I moved back to allentown, the apartment became a law firm office. in 1996, that building was vacant and boarded up. the 2nd and 3rd floors were renovated into apartments (4 total) and the first floor an art gallery. The building grossed a total of 6k a month when fully occupied in 2003. by 2005, it was a bank on the first floor, a CPA and web designers on the second floor and a few lawyers on the third. it was grossing in excess of 10k in 2006. all those spaces are still occupied and probably grossing closer to 11k a month. I always think of it as a cycle when it comes to the movement through highest and best uses.

today's mid-level apartments, with enough momentum, can become tomorrow's (or 5 years from now) office space. but, it needs to be market driven to the fullest extent possible. an appropriate question is the degree to which allentown has that momentum and the market to see the shifts that bethlehem and west chester have seen. I don't know the answer, but it looked like a long trip 15 years ago in those two other towns.